The 99th Tour de France cycling race begins in just a few days. The Tour de France is arguably one of the toughest endurance contests that exists today. The quick facts: it includes 21 days of racing over a 23 day period of time, and it will cover 2100 miles with some of the most amazing uphill climbs on the planet. Twenty two teams, each with nine riders, will start the race with the plan to come out victorious. If the Tour were all about business, you could easily equate the winning of the Tour de France to that of closing a mega target account at mega key account level. So, let's look a few of the sales strategies we can take away from the Tour de France.

The belly flop… a dive with great potential that… well… flops. It’s the perfect metaphor for all the things that can go wrong after the sale. Over the last few months, I’ve watched too many big ideas fail—and not because the ideas were weak. These projects were brilliant, and they could have produced a nice profit. As a consumer, number one fan, and a marketer, I’m frustrated that these ideas fell flat before they ever had a chance to take off. I’m sure you’re wondering… if the concepts were so stellar, what went wrong? Two words: poor planning.

When we have success in any area of life—from making a big sale to raising a child with great character—we will find clues that led to that success if we look backwards. It’s easy (especially in 2012) to be moving so fast we don’t stop and look at the clues. I encourage you to stop down sometime in the next few days and look back at one of your recent successful sales and look for the clues that were most important in that success. Then look forward, and apply those lessons on your most promising current Target Account.

While there is no tactic as valuable as a good strategy, there are times when—despite your artful and strategic approach to securing an appointment—a handy little tactic like NERO can keep the process moving forward.

Nobody really likes to fail! But the reality is, every salesperson has experienced some kind of failure at some point in their career… it’s inevitable! The great ones consider these experiences equivalent to an Ivy League education. Instead of allowing the negativity to devour them, they learn, overcome and move forward—quickly!

My husband and I have been doing some home improvement projects in our backyard. We relocated a pencil cactus, planted in a dry, arid location by the previous homeowner, to make room for a deck. But, unlike the other plants in the castaway pile, this one didn’t turn brown and crispy. It laid on its side for more than a week, roots exposed, looking as green and hearty as it ever had. For those of you without a green thumb, this story is about more than gardening, so stick with me...

You already know the answer, don’t you? It’s both. But, I suggest as you try to do both, start by focusing on smarter… and then build in harder. If you do it the other way, you might end up making a lot of noise but not making a lot of progress (like a race car revving its engine while the wheels are not on the ground).

I know sometimes you probably just want to stop the conversation and say something like, "Excuse me, but I don't understand a word you are saying." But you don't because, these days, people don't ask questions. They nod and say "okay," and then change the subject... and talk about things they do know. This seems to be the situation with digital. Most people reading this did not grow up speaking digital, and while some did take digital as a second language, they still speak it with an accent.

We live in an age that seems to encourage complexity. You can slice and dice research six ways from Sunday to build a compelling argument as to why your product or service is better than the other guys’. Spreadsheets, pie charts and white papers are only a few keystrokes away… and illustrate why the competition is inferior to the company you represent.

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